November 10, 2004

Hi folks,

Thanks for all of the email feedback on the Sony HS51 review. As far as the lumen rating on this projector goes, the initial rating reported to us was 800 ANSI lumens. Sony just informed us that the official lumen rating as per ANSI standard has been changed to 1200. So we have updated our records on this accordingly. This change does not affect the measurements we took in the lab for the review.

I am apparently having trouble with my math and/or English these days, and I apologize for the confusion. I misstated the range of the HS51's lens shift, so allow me to give it one more try. The image can be moved up or down a distance equal to 100% of the picture height from the neutral position. That means that a maximum offset upward places the bottom edge of the image at 50% of the picture height above the centerline of the lens, and the top edge of the image at 150% above the centerline of the lens. The same offset may be achieved in the downward direction as long as you do not use the horizontal shift. So another way to word it is this: you may move the image up or down in a range equal to three full picture heights. If you use the horizontal shift function, you will reduce the range of vertical shift.

Many have asked for comments on screendoor effect and vertical banding, which I had not touched on initially. The reason that I didn't was because neither one was a problem, so they weren't on the radar screen of problems to discuss. There was no evidence of any vertical banding on the HS51, and pixelation was entirely invisible at 1.4 times the screen width or more. But I should have said so explicitly. Thus the review has been updated to include these observations.

As far as further comparison between the Sony HS51 and the Panasonic AE700 is concerned, we are working on two other projectors that feature the same 1280x720 LCD panels as these two units, which are the InFocus Screenplay 5000, the Hitachi PJTX100. My intent is to post overall comparative assessments of all of these units after we've had a chance to go through them all. It will be more efficient to address all of them at once.

I appreciate your kind feedback and thoughtful suggestions. It certainly helps to know what is on everyone's mind. So keep those emails coming at comments@projectorcentral.com. I can't answer them all personally, but I certainly read them all, and your continued feedback is extremely valuable to us.

Thank you for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell